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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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Idaho Falls, ID|Snake River Event Center
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The blossoming of cooperation between the U.S. and Canada
The United States and Canadian nuclear industries used to be an example of how two independent teams of engineers facing an identical problem—making electricity from uranium—could come up with completely different answers. In the 1950s, Canada began designing a reactor with tubes, heavy water, and natural uranium, while in the U.S. it was big pots of light water and enriched uranium.
But 80 years later, there is a remarkable convergence. The North American push for a new generation of nuclear reactors, mostly small modular reactors (SMRs), is becoming binational, with U.S. and Canadian companies seeking markets and regulatory certification on both sides of the border and in many cases sourcing key components in the other country.
Y. S. Rana, Arun Singh, S. B. Degweker
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 174 | Number 3 | July 2013 | Pages 245-263
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE11-117
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several low-power experiments have evaluated various methods, including those based on noise analysis, to measure the subcritical reactivity in accelerator-driven systems (ADSs). Similar experiments are planned at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). We have developed a new theory of reactor noise in ADSs taking into account the non-Poisson character of the source. One of the aims of the BARC experiments is to verify the theory and to interpret the results in terms of the new theory. As part of the experimental planning, a simulation of the kinds of results that might be expected with different counting and analyzing setups is necessary. We have developed an analog Monte Carlo code for carrying out these simulations. The simulator generates a detailed time history of counts in the detector so that any method of analysis can be carried out. Since analog Monte Carlo takes a very long computing time, instead of carrying out a simulation to yield results equivalent to transport theory, we attempt to reproduce results equivalent to few-group diffusion theory, which requires much less time. We discuss the basic theory of the simulation method and the results of our simulations on a simplified model of a proposed subcritical assembly.